China urged to release rights activists from house arrest

An international human rights group on Tuesday urged China to lift the house arrest and travel restrictions imposed on two prominent Chinese rights activists.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said the house arrest of the couple and the ban on them traveling abroad seriously undermine the Chinese government's claims that it respects the rights of its citizens.

The restrictions were placed on Hu Jia and his wife Zeng Jinyan last Friday, just before they were due to fly from their home in Beijing and visit several European countries to discuss China's human rights record.

Zeng told Kyodo News they had been accused by the authorities of endangering national security, but had been given no details of any evidence against them or of when the restrictions placed on them would end.

''I have no idea why they should want to do this. We feel very disappointed as we were looking forward to visiting Europe and we had been planning this for months,'' she said.

''It seems they don't want to us to tell people abroad about the human rights situation in China,'' she added.

Zeng, who writes an Internet blog about her civil rights work, was recently named as one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time Magazine.

She and her husband are particularly well-known for campaigning for the rights of those with HIV/AIDS in China.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters Tuesday that she had no details of the case and was unable to comment.

Brad Adams, the Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said, ''With the Olympics on the horizon, Beijing should know that its actions are being closely watched by the rest of the world. Is the house arrest of two internationally known activists really the image that China wants to project to the world?''

Adams said the Chinese government should be grateful to the couple for their work in helping those with HIV/AIDS, but instead it is punishing them.